Waking Up from a Nightmare
by Rebecca Ripple
Summary: A Sorcery fanfiction, detailing the events following Finn's victory over Nightmare. Finn/Erline


**Author's Notes:** This chapter begins shortly after Erline finds her father waking up after the Nightmare Queen is defeated. Yes, what happens to Lady Everfair after Nightmare's defeat is left up to interpretation, but in this story, she will have been taken away by Nightmare in the end.

Also, note that this story will make a lot of references to the official Sorcery Storybook, which is available to read online on the official Sorcery website. I'll put a link to it on my profile so you can find it easily. Make sure to turn your speakers on while you read it! :)

Lastly, I haven't played the game, but have studied a few of the walkthroughs of it that are available on YouTube. Of course, reading that Storybook helped a lot, too. :)

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Royal Family**

Finn stood outside the door to the throne room, wondering whether or not this would be a good time to speak with Erline. He had to tell her how he truly felt now that the danger to her was gone. There would be no more childish flirting; it was time to say the words out loud.

Peeking into the room, he saw her talking with her father and bowed his head in a silent greeting.

The Faerie King stood at once when he saw him, a friendly smile adorning his face. "Finn, my boy! I cannot thank you enough for what you have done for us all. The Forest is alive and well, and both the human and faerie worlds are safe again. All of this is because of your bravery and skill."

"Well, hey, I didn't do it alone. I had help…" Finn interjected, glancing over at Erline.

"Finn," Erline said before Finn could continue, "You had my help in the Endless Stair, and in the Forest…"

"Don't forget about Lochbarrow," Finn reminded her. "Twice."

"Yes, and Lochbarrow. But you fought Nightmare on your own, and that fight was what saved us. Nothing but that victory could have fixed everything that Nightmare had tried to destroy."

"Indeed," the King said. "But tell me, lad: Erline told me that before that final battle, Everfair used Nightmare to try to kill you in the Sky Shrine. However did you survive such an attack?"

Finn thought of Dash, and what he had said that night during their brief meeting in the Sky Shrine. "I didn't," he began, trying to explain his return to life, "but Dash helped me come back. We were spirits…" The look of alarm on the King's face made him hesitate for a moment.

When he spoke again, his voice was quieter than it had been. "We opened a kind of portal that led me back to life."

Erline and her father watched him while he told the story, their eyes widened in awe. "So then, you _did_ die…?" Erline asked sadly.

Finn shrugged. "Well, yeah, sort of. But I'm alive now," he said, trying to cheer her up.

She smiled a little and nodded, but she looked as though she were forcing herself to look happier than she felt.

Her father sighed. "A courageous young man such as yourself will surely be just what this kingdom needs to become the grand place it was in the years before the Final War. You'll make a magnificent prince."

Finn blinked, startled. Him, a _prince_? Little over a month ago, he had been nothing more than a tramp, just some ragged orphan who traveled on foot through the woods and fields all day, looking for work, and had found shelter wherever he could by night. It had been a big enough shock when he'd discovered he'd had magical abilities, however small and untrained they might have been at the time. Now, though, he was to be a prince? It was all too impossible to believe, too sudden.

The King had clearly noticed the look of astonishment etched on Finn's face, because he smiled down at him. "Well, surely, you must have realized what happens when a young man enters a royal family?" With that, his expression turned solemn, and he added sadly, "Erline has also told me that your mother and father are no longer with us."

Finn's heart sank deeply as he thought of his parents. He lowered his gaze to the stone floor; even after all that had happened, he missed them more than he could say. "Yes, sir," he replied, his voice surprisingly steady, given the sorrow that had welled up in his throat, making it ache slightly.

The King put a hand on Finn's shoulder. "Then our family shall be yours, my boy. You are a hero, and now, you are a prince of the Realm of Faerie."

Finn's 'thank you' stumbled clumsily from his mouth. Truth be told, he wasn't sure what to say. For the second time in his life, he was being offered a far better and more promising life than he'd ever dreamed of having before. He could only hope that this time, he wouldn't be quite so careless with it.

* * *

From rags to sorcery to royalty, Finn had gone through a lot to get to where he was. Erline, too, had been through more than her share of suffering in her lifetime. Even so, and perhaps even to spite their past troubles, the two were closer now than either of them had been with anyone else. They were, to put it simply, in love.

It had been exactly one week since the shadow of Nightmare had receded, taking the Queen with it. With nothing left to fear from venturing out into the forest, Finn and Erline had returned seven times to the spot where the fallen Primus lay to pay their respects, and to tend to the young maple that had begun to grow at his roots.

It would, perhaps, be many years before they would discover if Primus' spirit had really seeped into the young sapling, but they both had hope in their hearts that it would. Whenever they visited the clearing, the trees that surrounded them seemed to mourn with them, letting their darkly-colored leaves whisper and sigh in the swift, cool breeze.

"You know," Finn said, smiling just a little, "he looks a lot taller today. At least a whole inch, maybe even two!"

Erline chuckled lightly, amused at the idea. "Trees don't grow an inch or two in a day; you know that. I guess he does look a little taller, though."

Finn's smile grew more gentle. "We've been taking good care of him."

Erline nodded, a mixture of pride and sadness in her eyes. "If Primus did manage to live on in this sapling," she wondered aloud, "will he still be Primus? Do you think he'll remember me?" She looked over her shoulder at Finn, still kneeling beside the young tree.

Finn placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Minds forget things. Spirits don't. His spirit is what'll survive, and he _will_ remember a friend like you."

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment, then let out a quick sigh and nodded. With that, the two of them strolled back to the palace hand in hand.


End file.
